Thursday, 15 December 2011

Commonwealth squad list announced

Lee McConnell is among 41 athletes named by scottishathletics in their Commonwealth Games squad list for 2012.

The 41 athletes, comprised of 23 men and 18 women - with 14 of them teenagers - will receive expert support and services from scottishathletics and sportscotland institute of sport over the next 12 months, with the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the 2018 Gold Coast event in mind.

Nigel Holl, chief executive of scottishathletics, said: "We know there is great talent there and some of the squad will have aspirations for London 2012 before even starting the countdown towards Glasgow. But, with so many teenagers involved, we are also looking into the future, towards 2016, 2017 and 2018."

He added: "We are optimistic and ambitious that future UK teams will have a strong and increasing Scottish representation."

At 33, 400 metres runner McConnell is the oldest of the group, which includes four athletes who competed in the Commonwealth Youth Games on the Isle of Man in September.

Also included were 1,500m runner Steph Twell, 400m hurdler Eilidh Child and Eilish McColgan, the steeplechaser who is the daughter of former 10,000m world champion Liz McColgan.

Selection was based on performance standards and places in the Commonwealth Games finals is the minimum goal for all the athletes.